27 May 02 12:15 East Timor: Church Should Lose 'Political Protagonism'-
Portuguese Cardinal

East Timor´s influential Catholic Church, with the country´s
independence, must "lose political protagonism" and increasingly
be perceived as having a role of "service rather than power",
Portuguese Cardinal Jose Policarpo said Sunday.

Cardinal Policarpo said he had discussed the new scenario facing the
Timorese church with Dili´s Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, a Nobel Peace
laureate, when he attended the country May 19-20 independence ceremonies.

His comments, made in Mafra outside Lisbon, came in reaction to Bishop
Belo´s recent criticism of Lusa news agency´s coverage of East Timor and
his demand that Lusa´s bureau chief, Antonio Sampaio, be expelled for an
"insulting" dispatch on the powerful role played by the Timorese
Catholic Church and Belo, himself.

Praising Sampaio´s work as "significant and positive",
Cardinal Policarpo said the church in Timor had long lived in a
"State of oppression" and must now learn to function in "a
democratic and independent country".

Saying the church had been "mother and teacher" to the
Timorese during a "very difficult time", Policarpo said Bishop
Belo´s strong relation with his predominantly Catholic people was more
one of "spiritual union", than "political".

He cautioned Westerners against viewing the role of the church in East
Timor with "European eyes", saying its place in the new nation
had more of an "existential, than political, importance".

Under Bishop Belo, the Timorese Catholic Church served as a major
pillar of national identitity and resistance to Indonesian occupation.

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